It seems like the latestResident Eviladaptation is living up to the standard of letting down fans of the franchise, but Netflix’s brand new series may have taken that to the next level, as over the weekend it amassed some of the worst reviews ever received by any production releasing on the streaming service.
ThisResident Eviladaptation stars Lance Reddick as Albert Wesker and twins Jade and Billie Wesker (played by Ella Balinska and Adelina Rudolph), featuring a dual timeline set in 2022 and 2036, with the latter depicting the typical zombie apocalypse scenario. Now if this doesn’t really sound like classicResident Evil, then that’s exactly why thousands of fans all over the world are voicing their displeasure with the show and why this could very well be an all-time low when it comes to video game adaptations or just content altogether.
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At the time of writing, Netflix’sResident Evilholds a worrisome 51% critics' score on Rotten Tomaties along with an even worse audience rating of 25%, and it’s not like the overall perception is much different elsewhere. Over on, IMDB thisResident Evilis rated as 3.6 out of 10. All of these ratings are far lower than last year’sResident Evil: Infinite Darkness, an animated Netflix production, orResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which at least got a somewhat positive audience reception due to its relative faithfulness to source material from Capcom’s games.
As for why exactly the series is being so criticized, it goes far beyond detachment from the games, as there are simply a lot of things that don’t make sense inResident Evil. Most people suggest the show has very little to offer when it comes to storytelling, thus cementing the long-sustained tradition of this particular video game getting poorly adapted works. Suffice to say, there might be no need to attempt to fit this showinto theResident Evilcanon.
The early failure ofResident Evilall but kills any possibility that the series will get another season after the initial 8-episode order, especially considering Netflix’s trigger-happy approach to canceling shows, even those that do well. This blunder also separatesResident Evilfrom Netflix’s recent success with video game properties such asCastlevania,The Witcher, andArcane, all of which have received tons of praise and subsequently gotten more seasons or spinoffs to capitalize on their popularity.
Netflix’sResident Evilappeared doomed from the start, with many fans criticizing the evident lack of connection to the games andAlbert Wesker’s race-swapped casting, as many believed the latter partly removed the eugenics narrative that is so intrinsic to the infamous villain, which coupled with the show’s own faults else will probably see it be forgotten quite soon.
Resident Evilis now streaming on Netflix.
MORE:8 Things That Make No Sense In Netflix’s Resident Evil Series
